The problem is that the Christie Administration pushed the idea of state owned landed = especially parks as profit machines and that ideal has kind of hung around post his admin.

The city sees it as a great local resource , the state see it as a future cash grab and there is a battle in the state to try to make money off things like this vs just giving it away for "public good".

Why make a public good when some politician can make a friend rich later with the same land. The bribe / kickback for the land just hasnt been good enough yet.